urge parliamentary scrutiny of the state within a state of the Khakis, especially the dreaded spy agency (DGFI). The interference of the Khakis into state politics will once again jeopardize institutionalization of elective democracy, good governance and secularism. The rogues fear social justice activists, critics, politicians and journalists too - Joy Manush!

Monday, February 03, 2014

Pakistan, time to face the truth about Bangladesh

SMITA PRAKASH

There
was some buzz again last week that Dr Manmohan Singh was contemplating a visit
to Pakistan next month, before he hangs his boots. It is one of those rumours
which in the past nine years has been neither denied by the foreign office nor
confirmed. And the ‘news’ gained ground when a visiting bunch of Pakistani
journalists reported that all that was left was a fixing of dates. Meanwhile it
appears that the Prime Minister might instead be traveling to Myanmar to attend
the summit of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical
and Economic Cooperation). The interesting grouping consists of Bangladesh,
India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. Look East Sir, look
East.

Pakistan is too occupied with ‘peace
talks’ with the Taliban — which it calls a stake holder in its domestic
political process — to bother with the Indian Prime Minister. Try figuring this
out: the Taliban has asked Imran Khan to negotiate on its behalf in the peace
talks with the government!

Last week, that Pakistani ‘social
worker of repute’ Hafiz Saeed, no wait, ‘Professor’ Hafiz Saeed said in a rally
that India was exerting pressure on the Bangladeshi government to hang Jamaat
leaders. He was referring to the death sentence handed down by a Chittagong
court to 14 men, including Bangladesh Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, in the
sensational 10 truck arms smuggling case of 2004. ULFA chief Paresh Barua was
also given the death penalty in absentia.

In April 2004, Bangladesh police had
seized 4,930 types of sophisticated firearms, 27,020 grenades, 840 rocket
launchers, 300 rockets, 2,000 grenade launchers, 6,392 magazines and 1,140,520
bullets when they were being loaded on to 10 trucks headed to North East India.
Barua, then in Bangladesh, worked closely with the ISI and the BNP, especially
Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rehman. Both Barua and Tarique fled Bangladesh when
the Awami League government came to power.

The ISI has always maintained its
links with the Jamaat in Bangladesh, either through Bangladesh’s National
Security Intelligence during BNP rule or lately through various non-state
actors. Three Myanmar born Pakistani Taliban operatives were caught in Dhaka
last month on a ‘jihad mission’.

Not just the ISI, Pakistan’s
politicians too are vocal in their support for trans-national jihadi
terrorists. Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Chaudhary Nisar described the capital
punishment to Bangladesh’s war criminal Abdul Qadir Mollah as ‘judicial
murder’. Mollah, known as the ‘Butcher of Mirpur’, and his Al Badr cohorts
smashed to death a two year old on the floor, slit the throats of his pregnant
mother and two sisters, and raped his two other sisters, one of whom died from
her wounds. The one who survived testified against Mollah. 43 years later,
Mollah was convicted and hanged for killing 344 civilians in 1971. A few days
later, Pakistani politician Javed Hashmi (PTI) called Mollah as
Shaheed-e-Pakistan. These are the kind of men that Pakistan’s leaders call heroes.

More than four decades after losing
half of its country, Pakistan has still not come to terms with the fact that
Bangladesh is systematically going ahead with bringing to trial the war crimes
accused of 1971. And during that process, historical facts are coming to the
fore once again. Pakistanis have been fed on a diet of lies about their history
and their leaders are quite content to perpetuate that state of ignorance.

The denial runs deeper as evidenced
from a report in Pakistani newspaper, The Nation (Jan 24, 2014) which denounces
a Bollywood film to be released this month as an Indian conspiracy to defame
Pakistan rather than an artistic interpretation by a private Indian film
producer. The article says, “Based on anti-Pakistan propaganda, ‘The Bastard
Child’, (now renamed ‘Children of War’) a Hindi language movie, has recently
been released in India to tarnish the image of Pakistan and its armed forces
around the world.”

“The movie, which has been made on the
subject of 1970-1971 events in East Pakistan, depicts Pakistan Army in East
Pakistan as an occupation army. It screens alleged atrocities committed by
Pakistan Army personnel in East Pakistan, which ignited flames for its
separation… Notwithstanding, peace endeavours initiated by government of Pakistan,
India does not spare any opportunity to prick Pakistan. It quotes “sources”
saying “This propaganda movie is an attempt to bring bad name to Pakistan.” If
the YouTube trailers of the film provoked this extreme reaction, it is quite
clear that the film will be banned in Pakistan, depriving yet another
generation from knowing the truth about 1971.